House rental contract

Legal rent contract have to be registered within a month from the date of the signature with the agenzia delle entrate (the Italian tax office) and should bear at least one marca da bollo (like the one you have brought your first day in SISSA) every 4 pages (contracts usually require one - one and half pages). Every contract should contain some info in order to be properly written (and hence to be valid).

Kind of contracts

There are different kind of contracts. The most common one is the standard rent contract in Italy and lasts for 3 years at minimum (with an option for a 2 year renewal) . As PhD students we are entitled to sign a second kind of contract designed specifically for students (locazione agevolata per studenti) which can last as short as six months (up to a maximum of 36 months).

Sharing

You can also share a house with some other students. In this case there are two possible situation: either you and your flat mates sign altogether the contract or you can join an existing contract. In either case you'll have, at the end, the document you need in order to get SISSA rent reimbursement.

• In the first case (signing altogether) you have only to pay attention that every flatmate is indicated in the contract as tenant (conduttore)
• In the second case (joining another contract) you have to sign a separate contract (that should be signed by all the other tenants apart from the landlord) called variazione di contratto di locazione in which the landlord declares that the original contract (the one you are joining) is extended to you. Bear in mind that also this variazione should be registered in order to be legal.

There is also, theoretically speaking, a third possibility called sub-rent or subaffitto. However this option isn't very safe as the standard rent contract in Italy explicitly forbid to sub rent to other people and, even if you could sub rent this could endanger (for some complicated tax related reasons) your fellowship.